1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to broadcast distribution, and in particular, to broadcast software distribution using encryption key locking and unlocking procedures.
2. Description of Related Art
The software industry as a whole has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. There is a continuous demand for new software products that address the needs in new or changing industries. Moreover, software companies routinely upgrade previously-released software products in response to specific user needs and/or to provide a product in a more efficient manner.
Software companies have traditionally distributed its software products through physical media such as tapes or diskettes, and, more recently, CD ROM. Companies store their software on these physical media and ship them to customers for installation onto their home computers.
In distributing software by this method, however, various problems have been encountered. The cost of media duplication, shipping, and storage is quite high in many such applications. Moreover, the elimination of many types of such physical media has created unwanted environmental-waste concerns. In addition, this type of distribution involves unwanted delay associated with waiting for media copies, packing, addressing, and shipping to obtain new products or new versions of existing products.
An alternative method of distributing software is through phone lines. Software distribution centers, having a host computer with a modem, transmit the software through phone lines to a customer's computer in response to the customer's order for particular software packages.
This alternative form of distribution has also encountered problems. The number of customers who can receive a given transmission is limited by the physical capabilities of the phone lines. If numerous customers order the same software package, such as when a company distributes an upgraded version to existing subscribers, the software company must repeatedly transmit the same software package until all its customers have received the product. This approach is both costly and time consuming.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and computer system for distributing software that overcomes the above-mentioned deficiencies associated with prior techniques. The present invention provides a solution to these and other problems, offering advantages over conventional implementations.